Black walnut tree named &#39;Beineke 3&#39;

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct cultivar of black walnut tree ( Juglans nigra L. ) which is a distinctly characterized by extremely rapid growth rate, very strong central stem tendency, and excellent straightness, thereby producing excellent timber qualities. The new variety has good nut bearing qualities. Nut crops abundant but somewhat irregular. Nut-bearing begins early in the life of the tree. Nuts are small, ripen late and average 2 per cluster. This new variety of black walnut tree ( Juglans nigra L. ) was discovered by the applicant near West Lafayette, Ind. in a black walnut planting of seedling progeny from previously selected trees for outstanding timber producing potential. This selection has been designated as BW426, a seedling progeny of selection number BW95 in records maintained by the applicant on the performance of the selection and grafts made from the selection and will be known henceforth as ‘Beineke 3’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This new variety of black walnut tree (Juglans nigra L.) wasdiscovered by the applicant near West Lafayette, Ind. in a black walnutplanting of seedling progeny from previously selected trees foroutstanding timber producing potential. This selection has beendesignated as BW426, a seedling progeny of selection number BW95 inrecords maintained by the applicant on the performance of the selectionand grafts made from the selection and will be known henceforth as‘Beineke 3’.

[0002] After the original clone was selected, and assigned an identitynumber of BW426 the aforesaid tree was reproduced by collecting scionsfrom it and grafting these onto common black walnut rootstocks atAmerican Forestry Technology Company, West Lafayette, Ind. These asexualreproductions ran true to the parent tree and to each other in allrespects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0003] A new and distinct cultivar of black walnut tree (Juglans nigraL.) which is a distinctly characterized by extremely rapid growth rate,very strong central stem tendency, and excellent straightness, therebyproducing excellent timber qualities. The new variety has good nutbearing qualities. Nut crops abundant but somewhat irregular.Nut-bearing begins early in the life of the tree. Nuts are small, ripenlate and average 2 per cluster.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004]FIG. 1 is a photograph showing the timber form of ‘Beineke 3.’

[0005]FIG. 2 is a photograph showing the leaves of ‘Beineke 3.’

[0006]FIG. 3 is a photograph showing the nuts of ‘Beineke 3.’

BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT

[0007] The botanical details of this new and distinct variety of walnuttree are as follows:

[0008] Tree:

[0009]Size.—Large.

[0010]Vigor.—Vigorous.

[0011]Growth rate.—Very rapid, faster than Purdue 1 and Tippecanoe 1 —36% and 8% larger in diameter than the average of Purdue 1 andTippecanoe 1 grafts respectively, planted the same year on the sameland. Diameter growth rate (at 4½ feet above the ground) averages 0.588inches per year over 17 years.

[0012]Form.—Excellent timber form, as good as Purdue 1 and Tippecanoe 1— 36% straighter than average of the entire planting on a rating scaleof 1 (excellent) to 5 (very poor), no crooks, very strong central stemtendency — averages 1 on the 1 to 5 scale.

[0013] Leaves:

[0014]Compound leaves.—Size — Much shorter than average; average length— 13.7″.

[0015]Leaflets.—Size — Average; average length — 3.9″; Width; narrowerthan average so 1.4″; average number of leaflets — 16.9 — lanceolate;acutely pointed. Thickness — thin; Texture — smooth; Margin — serrated;Petiole — short; Color — Topside — dark green; Underside — light green.

[0016]Anthracnose resistance.—Excellent.

[0017] Flowering habit:

[0018]Age at which trees start producing catkins.—Early.

[0019]Number of catkins produced.—Abundant.

[0020]Size of catkins.—Very long.

[0021]Time of pollen shed.—Early.

[0022]Age at which tree starts producing pistillate flowers.—Early.

[0023]Number of pistillate flowers produced by young trees.—Abundant.

[0024]Number of pistillate flowers produced by mature trees.—Abundant.

[0025]Lateral shoots producing pistillate flowers.—None.

[0026]Number of pistillate flowers per inflorescence.—2 and 3.

[0027] Nut crop:

[0028]Bearing.—Biennial.

[0029]Productivity.—Heavy.

[0030]Ripening period.—Late.

[0031]Evenness of maturity (period between first and last nuts are readyfor harvest).—Even.

[0032]Quality.—Good.

[0033]Distribution of nuts on tree.—Throughout.

[0034] Nut:

[0035]Size.—Small; average length — 1.3″; average diameter in sutureplane — 1.0″; average diameter cheek to cheek — 1.3″.

[0036]Uniformity of size.—Not much variation.

[0037]Form.—Round; Somewhat flattened in suture plane.

[0038]Blossom end.—Flattened.

[0039]Basal end.—Rounded to obtusely pointed.

[0040]Thickness of shell.—Very thick.

[0041]Ridges.—Sharp ridges.

[0042] DNA “Fingerprint” for Identification of ‘Beinke 3:’

[0043] DNA was isolated from the leaves of ‘Beineke 3.’ For purposes ofDNA fingerprinting, nine highly polymorphic loci from a suite ofmicrosatellites developed by Woeste et al. (2002) were chosen.Microsatellites sizes were checked against previously publishedstandards and verified by a second independent analysis. The“fingerprint” is the collection of microsatellite allele sizes at eachlocus for ‘Beineke 3.’

[0044] DNA was isolated from the leaves of 10 black walnut treesobtained from Walter Beineke using CTAB extraction buffer (50 mMTRIS-HCL, pH 8.0, 20 mM EDTA, pH 8.0, 0.7 M NaCl, 0.4 M LiCl, 2% SDS, 2%TAB, nd 1% PVP). After isolation the DNA from each tree was quantifiedand diluted with nanopure distilled water to a final concentration of 5ng/μL. The samples were stored in 96-well plates at 20° C.

[0045] For purposes of DNA fingerprinting, nine highly polymorphic locifrom a suite of microsatellites developed by Woeste et al. (2002) werechosen. Amplification of each locus was performed with an MJ ResearchTetrad Thermocycler (Waltham, Mass.) using 10 μL reactions in 96-wellplates. The PCR reaction mix contained 2 μL of the aforementioned blackwalnut DNA, 5 μL Sigma Taq ReadyMix (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.), 0.4μL of a 20 pmol mixture of forward and reverse fluorescence labeledprimer, and 3 μL PCR grade water supplied with the Sigma ReadyMix. PCRamplification was for 30 cycles of 94° C. for 20 sec, 55° C. for 30 sec,and 72° C. for 1 min. All primers were annealed at 55° C. The productswere then held at 4° C. until aliquots could be loaded into 6% LongRanger (polyacrylamide) denaturing gels (BMA, Rockland, Me.). For eachindividual 0.5 μL PCR product was added to 0.75 μL blue dextran and 0.25μL of CXR 350 bp Ladder Standard (Promega, Fitchburg Center, Wis.) in anew 96-well 1 late. The samples were denatured for 2 min at 95° C. andloaded onto a CAL96 96-well laminated membrane comb (The Gel Company,San Francisco, Calif.). Electrophoresis was at 3,000 V, 60 mA, 200Watts, 50° C. for 2 hours using an ABI 377 (Perkin Elmer) with 36 cmplates and 0.2 mm spacers. The resulting data was analyzed using ABI'sGeneScan 3.1.2 and Genotyper 2.5 (Perkin Elmer). Microsatellite sizeswere checked against previously published standards and verified by asecond independent analysis. The “fingerprint” is the collection ofmicrosatellite allele sizes at each locus for each tree.

[0046] Primer Sequences Locus Forward Reverse WGA2 GACGACGAAGGTGTACGGATGTACGGCTCTCCTTGCAGTC WGA6 CCATGAAACTTCATGCGTTG CATCCCAAGCGAAGGTTG WGA24TCCCCCTGAAATCTTCTCCT TTCTCGTGGTGCTTGTTGAG WGA32 CTCGGTAAGCCACACCAATTACGGGCAGTGTATGCATGTA WG33 TGGTCTGCGAAGACACTGTC GGTTCGTCGTTTGTTGACCTWGA86 ATGCCTCATCTCCATTCTGG TGAGTGGCAATCACAAGGAA WGA89ACCCATCTTTCACGTGTGTG TGCCTAATTAGCAATTTCCA WGA90 CTTGTAATCGCCCTCTGCTCTACCTGCAACCCGTTACACA WGA97 GGAGAGGAAAGGAATCCAAA TTGAACAAAAGGCCGTTTTC

[0047] Best interpretation of the current data indicates that theprobability that any other black walnut tree would have the collectionof microsatellite allele sizes listed is less that 1 in 10⁻¹⁷.

[0048] Microsatellites Used to Fingerprint ‘Beineke 3’: WGA2 WGA6 WGA24WGA32 WGA90 WGA86 WGA97 WGA33 WGA89 150 150 142 158 230 236 189 191 140154 226 238 157 161 220 220 191 197

DOCUMENTS CITED

[0049] Woeste, K., Burns, R., Rhodes, O., and Michler, C. (2002) (InPress) Thirty polymorphic nuclear microsatellite loci from black walnut.Journal of Heredity.

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct variety of black walnut tree named‘Beineke 3’ substantially as described, which has excellent timberquality, is fast growing, has strong central stem tendency, no sweep, nocrooks, and abundant but irregular nut crops very early in the life ofthe tree.